Field work Challenges and Limitations

Gathering data from the multiple sources enumerated above cannot be without some risks and challenges. Much as the field work provided some excitement, the

researcher also encountered some challenges some of which constitute considerable limitations to this study. These challenges are discussed under the following

subheadings.Sensitivity of the Subject of Inquiry and Ethical Considerations

The oil and gas industry in Nigeria is considered to be highly sensitive, and transparency is usually not a popular topic of discussions especially among public officials. Government stakeholders particularly found it difficult to grant interviews

13 _{The AIT, a privately owned Nigerian television channel, is also broadcast in the United Kingdom on}

86 for this study. For instance, efforts made at the Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR) to interview identified key stakeholders were unsuccessful. Some key officials would rather delegate their subordinates (though some of whom, as it turned out, had sufficient information relevant to the study). Effort has been made in this thesis to protect the identities of the interviewees as much as possible. Interviewees have only been identified where necessary and in circumstances clearly devoid of any potential risk or harm.

However, in order to protect the interviewees from undue risk and exposure that might arise due to their involvement in this study, the researcher has adhered strictly to the ethical guidelines for the conduct of studies of this nature14 _{The researcher}

acknowledges that adhering to the ethical guidelines is particularly important for this study considering the sensitivity of the subject of enquiry and especially because interviewees were often required to disclose personal opinions that they would rather want to keep confidential. Reporting those private opinions in a public domain such as in this thesis raises ethical concerns. Hence, it is important to protect interviewees by adhering to agreed ethical guidelines (Holloway, 1997).

As a necessary first step, the researcher ensured that interviewees fully understood the purpose of the research before granting their consent to be interviewed. All the interviewees for this study gave information willingly and all had the option to decline responding to questions that they were not comfortable with. However, in all cases consent of interviwees were obtained verbally.

87 Access to some key informants and interviewees

Access to key industry stakeholders was among the greatest challenges that the researcher had in the field. However, the researcher was able to interview a couple of senior officers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) who gave valuable information on the relationship between the company and government and how the NEITI has affected their operations in recent years. A few private but local operators in the oil, gas and mining industry were also interviewed.

However, the field work did not yield sufficient data from any of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) in Nigeria. Most of the companies that the researcher approached could not grant an interview. The reasons they gave ranged from lack of time to the unavailability of the appropriate personnel who could be interviewed. The researcher was sometimes referred to head offices outside Nigeria. Fortunately, the researcher attended the World Oil Forum held in London on the 14th of July, 2009, upon return to the UK from the field visit. This event attracted a number of key players in the Oil and Gas Industry. The researcher was able to interact with a few of the delegates who represented companies with interests in Nigeria. Some of them willingly gave their views on t he overall EITI implementation and on NEITI. However, some relevant documents found on t he websites of many of the IOCs operating in Nigeria supplemented the data gathered on industry participation in the NEITI implementation.

88 Security and Safety Considerations

Security and safety issues were heightened in Nigeria during the period of the field work. This was due to the incessant violent activities of the Niger Delta militants. For instance, although the researcher was allowed access to the NNPC library and some staff agreed to be interviewed, access to certain areas and key informants was restricted. At one time during the researcher’s visit, the NNPC building, which also houses three key federal government ministries including the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, received major terror threats from a notorious militant movement from the Niger Delta. New security directives that barred visitors from the building during this period meant that certain key informants could not be accessed. Also the general atmosphere of insecurity during the period also meant that the researcher applied a lot of caution during the few visits made to the Niger Delta area.

However, despite these limitations, the field work and post field work period yielded an enormous collection of data. These numerous sources of data also yielded an assemblage of evidence the analysis of which tended to be time consuming. It was necessary to properly analyse every piece of evidence in order to certify not just their relevance but also their validity. It was equally important to establish a “chain of evidence” in the application of the data collected towards answering the research questions, and this reflects the strength of the data analysis technique employed.

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